Haley and Harrison

We met working FUGE, which is a Christian camp for students, during the summer of 2013. I was his boss – haha (he loves that part of the story). I was the Camp Director and he was the Video Producer.

We became good friends, but no sparks were flying yet (for me at least). He always jokingly flirted with me and hit on me in front of the team, which was really funny because we were not allowed to date other staff members. We were placed on staff together again last summer at Ridgecrest in Asheville, North Carolina.

When we first met back up for the second summer, I noticed some significant areas of growth and maturity in him, which impressed me a lot. He had developed into a man and a leader more than I had ever seen before. He worked extremely hard, and was amazing at his job. It definitely caught my attention, but the thought of us being together still did not cross my mind. He continued to openly flirt with me and hit on me in front of everyone, and he made it really funny when I would reject him every single time.

At the end of the summer, it was just the two of us standing there and he did the thing where he would hit on me (which was unusual when it was just us, because I thought it was just to make other people laugh). I laughed it off and he said, “You know I’m not joking, right?” and he smiled andwalked away.

From that, we were able to later have a conversation and decided that we both wanted to try dating. We knew from the start that we wanted to be intentional about dating, because we live six hours apart – with him in Mobile, AL, and me in Nashville, TN. We have dated ever since, and we are CRAZY about each other. He is a photographer and videographer, and we have been able to work together a lot and share that passion. He is the funniest and most adventurous person that I know. I have never been pursued or loved like this before. We make each other better, and I am so thankful for this incredible man.

How he asked: For this coming summer, I have been placed as Director at Ridgecrest again. My Coordinator told me that he wanted me to go visit and see the new changes and to work out some details for the summer. I was very excited for this visit because camp is my passion, so I was in the zone. My sister and I drove up on Friday morning, and went straight into meetings. We then toured the campus and ended the tour in the prayer garden. Our contact asked if she could pray for us for this coming summer, which I loved. When we looked back up, she pointed behind me.

Two of our friends were standing there holding a laptop and cameras. One of them handed me the laptop and said to watch the video. My hands were shaking and my heart was about to leap out of my chest at this point. I watched this amazing video of pictures of our relationship and video clips that he had taken periodically throughout our relationship. The end of the video had interviews with my parents and my sisters (who are my best friends).

The last screen instructed me to walk up the path.

Along the path, there were stations. Each station had a beautiful wooden sign, that Harrison had built and painted, with pictures of us. Above each sign, there were notes nailed to the trees. The notes reminisced about our favorite memories, described things he loves about me and about us, and talked about what he is excited for in the future with me. He does an amazing job of being loving and serious, but also very funny at the same time, so I felt crazy because he had me sobbing one minute and laughing out loud the next.

When I reached the top of the trail, my car was there with instructions to drive to the lookout at the top. In the front seat, there were notes and pictures from my parents. Being super close to my family, this was very significant to me. After fixing my mascara (haha), I drove to the top. When I got out of the car, some of our best friends were standing on both sides of the aisle runner that Harrison had put down.

After a lot of hugs and a few tears, I walked up to a very excited and nervous version of my best friend.

The platform was covered in sunflowers, which are very meaningful to his family because his grandmother, who passed away a couple of years ago, absolutely loved sunflowers. They also happen to be my favorite flower! When he got down on a knee, he showed me a beautiful wooden box. He told me that my daddy made the box from wood from my papaw’s farm, who also passed away a couple of years ago.

He explained the significance of two families and two people coming together. Then, he pulled out the most beautiful ring I had ever seen and asked me to marry him. Obviously, I said yes! Our friends came up to celebrate with us, and we had the best engagement weekend ever! I could not be more excited to be engaged to my favorite person!